Billy Graham

Billy Graham was arguably the most successful Christian evangelist in the world. He was born William Franklin Graham, Jr. , on Monday, November 7th, 1918 on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, to Morrow (Coffey) and William Franklin Graham, who were dairy farmers. Billy was an unofficial pontifex Maximus to the American Republic, from the Truman Administration to the Obama years. Graham served as a spiritual adviser to several American presidents, though he is most widely associated with Richard Nixon.

Graduated from Sharon High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1936.

Served as president of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1946 to 1949. To this day, he is the youngest person in U.S. history to serve as a sitting president of any U.S. college or university.

He gave a prayer at every Presidential inauguration from 1948 to 1996, and was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal by his fellow Southern Baptist, Bill Clinton, in 1996. As a radio and TV evangelist, Graham touched the lives of an estimated two billion people. He personally oversaw the spiritual rebirth of over 2. 5 million people, who accepted Jesus as their personal savior at his revival meetings. The Gallup Poll listed him as number seven on its list of the most admired people of the 20th century. Graham was a moderate and temperate preacher with a high level of tolerance. His split with Bob Jones, Sr.

Revealed in his autobiography the conversations he had with Mickey Cohen during the 1949 Graham crusade in Los Angeles. Cohen was a notorious Los Angeles-based racketeer who died of natural causes in 1976. At the time of the JFK assassination in 1963, Cohen was the boyfriend of a Texas-based stripper named Juanita Sahakian who knew Jack Ruby.

circa 1950 was the watershed moment of the divergence of evangelicals, like Graham, from fundamentalists, like Jones.

When briefly hospitalized late in 1976, President Gerald Ford, former President Richard Nixon and President-elect Jimmy Carter all visited him.

He and his wife were jointly awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

Release of his book, "Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham". [1997]

Has given prayer at inauguration of every U. S. President since Harry S. Truman. However, due to ill health he was unable to attend George W. Bush's first inauguration in 2001.

Apologized for his statements on Jews and the news media, recorded on tape during conversations with President Richard Nixon at the White House circa 1972. (3 March 2002).

Has Parkinson's disease, prostate cancer, fluid on the brain and uses a walker due to a pelvic fracture in 2004. He has also been hospitalized with pneumonia, which has damaged his lungs.

Retired as the presenter of The Billy Graham Crusades, in 2005, at age 86.

Lives in Montreat, North Carolina, in the same house he and his wife have lived in for over 50 years. Currently in the process of turning over his ministry to his son, Rev. Franklin Graham. [2006]

His wife, Ruth Bell Graham, died on June 14, 2007, just 4 days after her 87th Birthday.

His lifelong best friend's, Robert H. Schuller's son, Robert A. Schuller, attended Billy's 95th Birthday, at Graham's Evangelist Association, in Charlotte, North Carolina. [7 November 2013].